Airbus clinches sales contracts

Airbus sealed a major deal on Monday valued in the billions of dollars to sell 111 new aircraft to the Air Lease Corporation, its second blockbuster order at the Dubai Air Show.

Air Lease, the Los Angeles jet financing and leasing company, added to its expanding fleet with 25 A220-300s, 55 A321neos, 20 A321 XLRs, four A330neos and seven A350Fs. At Airbus’ prepandemic list prices, the order would exceed $15 billion, although major deals typically see manufacturers offer significant discounts to buyers. The company did not provide details on the sale price.

The sale of the European plane maker’s new twin-engine A350 freighter is seen as a direct challenge to Boeing’s longhaul 787 Dreamliner, which has suffered repeated production troubles.

On the opening day of the aviation expo, Airbus booked the sale of 255 new aircraft to Indigo Partners’ various low cost carriers — a deal valued at some $30 billion, based on the prepandemic price list.

At a news conference held as a daredevil flying display roared outside, high-level executives of Airbus and Air Lease heralded their commitment as proof of surging demand and the ravaged aviation industry’s comeback.

“The end of the COVID crisis wants to install itself upon us,” said Christian Scherer, Airbus chief commercial officer.

The Dubai Air Show sees a stream of order and product announcements over its five days. The sales came as Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel, announced it handled 20% more passenger traffic in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the same period last year, stoking cautious optimism even as a full recovery remains years off. Just 20.7 million people squeezed through the airport so far this year — a 74% drop from before the coronavirus hit in 2019.